Ads to Chat lets every conversation that starts from an ad click continue into service and marketing, and reports the results back to the ad platform — forming a funnel you can keep optimizing. Once connected, agents can see which ad a contact came from, marketers can trigger follow-up journeys from the ad source, and post-conversation conversions can be reported back to the ad platform to improve delivery.
This article covers the setup for Google click-to-message ads (Click to Message, or CTM) → LINE and WhatsApp. If you run Meta click-to-message ads, see Setup Guide｜Ads to Chat (Meta).
📕 New to this feature? We recommend reading Feature Introduction｜Ads to Chat first to understand what it does and when to use it, then coming back here to set it up.
This feature applies to Google click-to-message ads (Click to Message), with LINE and WhatsApp as the supported landing channels.
In Google Ads, a click-to-message ad is created as a message asset and attached to your existing campaigns.
Not supported: ad types that do not start a conversation (such as lead-form ads) are not covered by Ads to Chat.
LINE CTM links do not appear in Google search results on desktop. Always test and review on a mobile device — not finding the ad on desktop does not mean the setup failed.
How it works: the complete ad funnel
Once connected, a single ad click flows through the following four stages, closing the loop of "delivery → conversation → service → re-marketing":
LINE requires adding you as a friend first・sends the prefilled "starter message"
Shown in the 【Ad Source】 section of the contact profile
Using the ad source as the trigger condition
After the customer clicks the ad, the messaging app opens a chat with you and automatically fills in the starter message you configured. The ad source is recorded only when the customer actually sends that message, which is also what triggers the journey. Clicking the ad without sending anything leaves no record.
・LINE: the customer must add your official account as a friend before they become a MAAC contact. If they have not added you yet, they will see the add-friend screen first, and can only enter the chat and send the message after adding you.
・WhatsApp: sending a message creates the contact — no separate step is required.
What is the same for both channels: adding you as a friend does not record the ad source, nor does it trigger a journey — the customer must actually send that starter message.
👉 For the full rules on how contacts are created per channel, see Overview｜MAAC Contacts Module.
When the customer clicks the ad, the message input is prefilled with the starter message you configured, and the ad-source tracking information is attached to that message. Therefore:
・The customer sends the prefilled message as is, or adds text before or after it → the source is recognized normally.
・The customer deletes the prefilled content entirely and types their own message before sending → the tracking information is lost, that click cannot be attributed, and no journey is triggered.
This is a platform-level limitation that cannot be recovered on our side. Write your starter message close to what customers actually want to ask, so they are less likely to rewrite it.
Before you start
Ads to Chat spans several stages — ad, conversation, journey and conversion upload. Please complete the following first:
- Connect the conversation channel to CAAC: the LINE official account or WhatsApp account you want to advertise on must be connected in CAAC, and the ad must land on that same account. 👉 See Tutorial｜Add a WhatsApp Channel.
- Have Admin Center management permission, and make sure your Google account can operate the Google Ads account (required when authorizing the connection).
- Have a Google Ads campaign ready to run: message assets are attached to existing campaigns. For the ad to actually serve, the campaign must be enabled.
- If you have not used journeys before, we recommend learning the basics first. 👉 Feature Description｜Omnichannel Customer Journey.
If the LINE ID or WhatsApp phone number entered in the message asset differs from the account connected in CAAC, the system cannot record the ad source and the journey will not trigger.
Setup
These two steps are ad-account operations, usually carried out by your ad-buying team or agency partner. If you need their help, you can share the links to these two sections directly.
Step 1. Connect Google Ads in the Admin Center
Go to Admin Center → App Center → Data Integration, open the Google Ads card, and complete the connection on the 【General settings】 tab:
- Connect your Google manager account (MCC): authorize it in the 【Google manager account】 section. It is used to access and manage the ad accounts beneath it.
- Confirm the ad accounts were imported: once the MCC is connected, all associated ad accounts appear automatically in the 【Google ad accounts】 list, with their connection status and last-updated time. There is no need to enter account IDs manually. If the list does not reflect a newly added ad account, click 【Refresh】 to fetch it again.
Before authorizing, make sure you are selecting the correct manager account — it must be able to access the ad accounts you plan to run Ads to Chat on. To switch, you must first click 【Disconnect Google Ads】 in the top right and connect again.
Step 2. Create the click-to-message ad (message asset) in Google Ads
In Google Ads, a click-to-message ad is not a separate ad type — it is a message asset created under Google Ads → Campaigns → Assets → Assets. Click the 【＋】 (Create asset) button at the top left of that page and complete the following:
- Choose where to add it (Add to): you can apply the asset to the entire ad account, to specific campaigns, or to specific ad groups. Assets and campaigns are independent of each other, so you can choose freely based on your delivery plan.
- Select the asset type 【Message】: this is the only asset type Ads to Chat applies to.
- Select the channel 【Line】 or 【WhatsApp】: the dropdown also lists other messaging apps; these two are the ones this feature supports. One message asset maps to exactly one channel account; if you have multiple accounts to advertise (two LINE official accounts, or LINE and WhatsApp at the same time), create a separate message asset for each.
-
Enter the channel account: for Line, enter the LINE ID of the official account connected to CAAC (in the format
@123abcde); for WhatsApp, select the country and enter that account's phone number. - Enter the starter message: this is the message the system fills in on the customer's behalf to send to you after they click the ad (up to 140 characters) — it is not your welcome message. Write it as the customer's question or need (for example, "I'd like to know more about your plans") so it reflects intent; the ad-source tracking information also travels with this message (see "How it works" above), so keep it close to what customers genuinely want to ask, which makes them less likely to rewrite it.
📌 The 【Call-to-action】 fields below the asset control how the ad is presented in Google Ads and are unrelated to the Ads to Chat integration — fill them in or leave them out based on your advertising needs.
Once saved, the message asset goes through Google's automatic review, usually completed within about half a day. During that time the asset may show as not eligible or unverified. The ad does not serve until the review completes, so no click events reach the system — seeing no ad source at this stage is expected. After approval, the asset starts serving automatically at the level you selected.
💡 Tip: because the starter message is a fixed string, you can set up an auto-reply in MAAC for that exact wording, so customers immediately receive the relevant information or menu as soon as they send it.
Step 3. Create a conversion action in Google Ads
If you want to use 【Upload Google Ads conversion】 in a journey, you must first create a conversion action in Google Ads so the journey node has something to report against.
🔗 The name you give this conversion action in Google Ads is exactly what appears in the 【Conversion action】 dropdown of the journey node. Choose a name you will recognize at a glance (for example Ads to Chat qualified lead) so you do not pick the wrong one later.
📌 If you do not need conversion uploads yet, you can skip this step — ad-source recording and journey triggering are unaffected; Google simply has one less performance signal to optimize delivery with.
To create it, go to Goals → Conversions → Summary in the left menu of Google Ads, click 【＋ Create conversion action】 at the top right, then complete the following:
- Select only 【Conversions offline】 as the data source: leave website, app and phone calls unchecked. Keep the data source as 【Connect data source later】 — Ads to Chat uploads conversions directly through the API, so there is no CRM to connect and no file to upload.
- Choose the category 【Qualified lead】: Google can only bring the customer to the messaging app; it cannot tell whether they actually sent a message or what happened afterwards. From Google's perspective, these results are therefore qualified lead data imported from an external source. This is the category Google recommends for this scenario.
- Confirm four fields under 【Edit settings】: see the table below.
| Field | Recommended setting | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Action optimization | Secondary at first, Primary once stable | Secondary is observation only and is not used for bidding; Primary counts in the Conversions column and is used for bidding. This setting only affects whether Google optimizes on it — it does not affect whether the upload succeeds. We recommend letting your ad-buying team decide |
| Conversion name | Your own, easily recognizable name | This is what appears in the dropdown of the 【Upload Google Ads conversion】 journey node |
| Value | 【Don't use a value for this conversion action】 | Qualified leads usually have no fixed monetary value. If you know the average value of a lead, you can assign one to help your bid strategy |
| Count | Must be 【Every】 | Choosing 【One】 prevents conversions from being uploaded in full — see the warning below |
In the Google Ads interface, the description under "One" recommends it for lead-type conversions, but that guidance is aimed at scenarios such as website forms.
For Ads to Chat you must choose "Every": every conversion we upload is sent against the click identifier of the same ad click. Per Google's rules, when the count setting is "One", a single ad interaction records only one conversion and discards the rest, so the results you report from your journey are not captured in full.
Google's own guidelines for importing offline conversions state the same: to record multiple conversions of the same type for a single click, the counting setting must be set to "Every".
When you are done, click 【Done】 to close the panel, then 【Save and continue】, and finally 【Finish】 on the summary page.
A newly created conversion action shows as Inactive or unverified until it receives its first conversion, and Google does not explain why. It switches to Active once uploads start.
Also note: Google recommends waiting 4–6 hours after creating a conversion action before uploading data; uploaded conversions take about 3 hours to appear in reports; and conversions uploaded more than 90 days after the original click are not imported.
Step 4. Build the follow-up journey
Create a journey in MAAC and use the following two nodes to connect "trigger" and "conversion upload":
Trigger node 【Google ad conversation】: triggers when a contact opens a conversation from a Google click-to-message ad (→ LINE or WhatsApp) and sends the first message. The trigger scope can be 【All Google ads】 or 【Specific campaigns】; for the latter, select an ad account first, then one or more campaigns (the options show the campaign name and ID).
Action node 【Upload Google Ads conversion】: when the contact reaches this node, the event is reported back to Google Ads. Select a Google Ads account and a conversion action (the one you created in Step 3), then set the conversion value — either 【No conversion value】 or 【Fixed conversion value】. Once configured, the node card shows the conversion action name and its category.
The system sends every identifier available — the ad click ID (gclid / gbraid), the hashed email and the hashed phone number — to improve Google's match rate. If a contact has no identifier at all, that conversion is skipped (the system keeps a record of it).
The system does not restrict you to campaigns that already have a message asset attached, so draft campaigns appear in the list too and you can prepare journeys in advance. At trigger time, the system matches the campaign information carried by the click against the campaigns you selected — the contact enters the journey only when they match.
📌 A contact can trigger the same journey at most once per hour. If you have not connected a Google Ads account yet, the node shows a reminder with a 【Connect now】 link.
👉 For a complete journey setup example, see the "Ads to Chat" scenario in Use Cases｜Journey Feature Application Guide.
📌 Tip: add a 【Add tag】 node after the trigger to automatically tag contacts who arrive from ads (for example with the campaign period), which makes later segmentation and re-marketing easier.
Step 5. View the ad source in CAAC
After a contact opens a conversation from the ad and sends a message, agents can see the 【Ad Source】 section on that contact's profile panel, containing the Campaign, Ad Group, Ad Headline and Click Time. If the contact has both Google and Meta ad sources, they appear under separate 【Google Ads】 and 【Meta Ads】 tabs.
In the conversation inbox, a Google Ads card also appears directly above the message, labelled "Started from a Google ad" together with the matching ad information, with the customer's starter message below it — so agents can see which ad the customer came from without switching screens.
Google's click-through conversion window is at most 90 days, so showing older clicks adds no practical value for agents — only the latest one is kept.
Verify the setup
Once the steps above are complete, we recommend confirming the feature works as follows:
- Search for and click the Google ad, open the conversation, and actually send the prefilled starter message. If the ad lands on LINE, test on a mobile device.
- Open that contact's profile in CAAC and confirm the 【Ad Source】 section shows the ad information.
- Open the journey in MAAC and confirm its trigger count (traffic) has increased.
📌 Conversion data in the ad platform is delayed (see below), so do not use "the number has not appeared yet" as your verification criterion.
How the data appears in the ad platform
After connecting, you will see two layers of data in Google Ads:
| Data layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Native message-ad metrics | Standard columns such as impressions, clicks, cost, CTR and CPC, plus message-ad specific metrics — Chats (conversations initiated), Message Impr. (impressions shown with the message) and Chat rate (Chats ÷ Message Impr.) — all calculated by Google |
| Conversions we upload | Rolled into the standard Conversions column and back-dated to the original click time rather than the upload time. To view them separately, segment by "Conversion action name" |
Per Google's rules, a conversion can only be uploaded at least 6 hours after the click, so the system uploads in batches and the data in the back office is delayed. Review performance with that expectation, and do not treat "it is not there right now" as a failed upload.
FAQ
Q: Why can't I find my click-to-message ad on desktop?
If your ad lands on LINE, this is a current Google limitation: click-to-message ads landing on LINE appear on mobile only and do not show in desktop search results. Please review and test on a mobile device.
Q: If a customer clicks the ad but does not send a message, will the journey trigger?
No. Both the ad-source record and the journey trigger are created only after the customer actually sends the first message. The ad's tracking information reaches the system together with that starter message, so clicking the ad without sending anything leaves no record at all.
Q: Does the customer have to add me as a friend first? What differs between existing and new friends?
The two channels differ:
-
LINE: yes. The customer must add your official account as a friend before they become a MAAC contact.
- Already a friend: clicking the ad opens the conversation with you directly, with the starter message filled in — sending it completes the flow.
- Not yet a friend: clicking the ad shows the add-friend screen first; only after adding you can they enter the conversation and send the message.
- WhatsApp: no. Sending a message creates the contact, with no separate step required.
The same applies to both: adding you as a friend does not record the ad source or trigger a journey. The system records it when it receives the starter message carrying the tracking information, so customers who only add you without sending a message will show no ad source and will not enter a journey.
👉 For the full rules on how contacts are created per channel, see Overview｜MAAC Contacts Module.
Q: Some customers clearly came from an ad, so why was no ad source recorded?
The three most common reasons:
- The customer only clicked the ad and never sent a message — the tracking information arrives with the message, so nothing is recorded without it.
- The customer deleted the prefilled starter message and typed their own before sending — the tracking information is lost with it. Adding text before or after the original content is fine.
- The message asset has not passed Google's review — the ad does not serve during review, so no clicks come through.
The first two are platform-level limitations that cannot be recovered on our side. Writing the starter message close to what customers genuinely want to ask meaningfully reduces how often they rewrite it.
Q: I finished the setup, so why don't conversion numbers appear in Google Ads right away?
Per Google's rules, a conversion can only be uploaded at least 6 hours after the click, so the system uploads in batches and the data is delayed — this is expected. In addition, uploaded conversions are rolled into the standard Conversions column and back-dated to the original click time; to view them separately, segment by "Conversion action name".
Q: The conversion action shows as Inactive — did the setup fail?
No. A newly created conversion action shows as Inactive or unverified until it receives its first conversion, and switches to Active once uploads begin. We recommend waiting a few hours after creating it before testing.
Q: I already have other conversion actions — can I reuse one?
Technically yes, but we recommend creating a dedicated conversion action for Ads to Chat, for two reasons: the count setting must be "Every", and reusing one set to "One" would make uploads incomplete; and only a separate conversion action lets you review the results driven by Ads to Chat on their own in reports.
Q: Do I really not need to connect a data source when creating the conversion action?
Correct. Ads to Chat uploads conversions directly through the API from MAAC, so there is no CRM to connect and no file to upload — choose 【Connect data source later】 during creation.
Q: Why is 【Don't use a value】 recommended? Can I send an amount?
You can. Qualified leads usually have no fixed monetary value, so no value is the default recommendation. If you know the average value of a lead, or you are reporting an actual transaction amount, sending a value helps Google's bid strategy prioritize delivery. You can set a fixed amount and currency in the 【Upload Google Ads conversion】 journey node.
Q: What data is actually sent to Google when a conversion is uploaded?
Primarily the click identifier of that ad click — the information Google recommends most and the most accurate way to match back to the original ad; every contact who enters a journey through Ads to Chat has one. In addition, at the moment of upload the system checks whether the contact already has an email address or phone number and, if so, includes them in hashed form to help Google identify the person more completely. So even if the customer left no contact details at first, anything captured later during the journey is still included at upload time.
Q: What happens if I don't set up conversion uploads?
Ad-source recording and journey triggering are unaffected and continue to work as usual. The only difference is that Google has one less performance signal for optimizing delivery, so over time there is less room for automatic optimization.
Q: What should I do if the ad source doesn't appear in CAAC?
Check in this order: (1) Google Ads is connected in the Admin Center; (2) the message asset has passed Google's review (usually about half a day after creation); (3) the LINE ID or WhatsApp phone number in the message asset matches the account connected in CAAC; (4) during testing you actually sent the prefilled starter message, and used a mobile device if the ad lands on LINE.
Q: Can one message asset cover multiple channels or accounts?
No. One message asset maps to exactly one channel account. If you want to run both LINE and WhatsApp, or have multiple LINE official accounts to advertise, create a separate message asset for each and attach them to the relevant campaigns.
Q: How does the Google setup differ from the Meta setup?
The funnel logic is the same, but the ad-platform mechanics differ. The main differences:
| Meta | ||
|---|---|---|
| Landing channels | WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram | LINE, WhatsApp |
| Where the ad is created | Ads Manager, while creating the campaign | A message asset on the Assets page, attachable to the account, campaigns or ad groups |
| Conversions reported | Choose a standard conversion event directly | You must first create a conversion action in Google Ads |
| Data delay | Delayed; no official figure published | Upload only 6+ hours after the click, in batches |
| Viewing device | No restriction | Ads landing on LINE appear on mobile only |